Zahra Afshar is Head of Legal, Human Rights and Sustainability at Ahmad Tea, a family-owned business which exports tea to over 90 countries. Called to the Bar and as a former criminal defence lawyer who specialised in miscarriages of justice, she now applies her legal and human rights expertise to rebalancing value in one of the world’s most historic supply chains.
Zahra leads initiatives that tackle systemic inequality head-on; from closing the living wage gap for tea workers to delivering programmes which improve health, sanitation and education. Under her leadership, Ahmad Tea was honoured with the King’s Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development in 2024, recognising its commitment to embedding people and planet at the heart of commercial growth.
Zahra has also designed a pioneering profit-share initiative to bring visibility and value directly into the hands of those who handpick the tea and ensuring that the people who work the hardest in the value chain, mainly women are recognised and rewarded.